


Afraid

by Beth Harker (Beth_Harker)



Category: Newsies (1992)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Referenced past abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-29
Updated: 2015-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-29 20:37:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17210531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beth_Harker/pseuds/Beth%20Harker
Summary: Blink gets some news that scares him.





	Afraid

Mush watched from the steps of the lodging house lobby as Kloppman and Blink whispered just below him. He didn’t strain to hear the words. It was wrong to eavesdrop. He simply sat still and looked. Blink kept his eyes trained on the ground. Every once in a while he’d rub the back of his neck. His skin had a pale, sickly sheen. His feet shuffled. Mush kept his grip on the railing. It was the only thing keeping him from going to Blink and interrupting whatever Kloppman had to say.

Blink disappeared out the door as soon as they were finished. Kloppman gave Mush a terse nod. Of course the old man had known that he was there the whole time, expected it even. Kloppman looked weary. As Mush rushed out the door behind Blink, he saw, out of the corner of his eye, how Kloppman sank down at his desk and slowly opened up the great book where he kept his logs.

Out on the stoop, Blink was hunched over with an unlit cigarette clenched between his fingers. His book of matches had been flung out onto the pavement a couple of feet in front of him. Mush rushed out to grab them. He took Blink’s cigarette from his hand, lit it for him, and then put it back. The smoke rose up in plumes, but Blink didn’t move.

“What’d he say to you, huh Kid?”

“Weren’t much.” Blink’s voice cracked. Some ashes from the cigarette fell on his knee, so Mush leaned in close to brush them off. Blink stubbed the cigarette out and left it on the stoop.

“You’re scared,” Mush guessed quietly. Blink didn’t so much as shrug. “Hey, that’s fine. I’m gonna stay out here with you.”

That got Blink to look at him. He touched Mush’s cheek, than let his hand fall, resumed his position of frightened defeat.

“You wanna know somethin’ funny, Kid?” Mush grasped Blink’s tight shoulder, and didn’t wait for him to answer. “When we was little, I used to think ghosts was after you when you got this way, the invisible kind, and I’d sit here next to you and glare at ‘em until they went away. If someone real was to come after you, I’d do more than just glare. I’d hit him.”

“My pa’s looking for me,” Blink admitted.

“Yeah, well you’re just about eighteen now. That’s the same as being a man. He can’t have you.”

“That’s what Kloppman was saying. You think I’m bigger than him these days?”

“I think you’re a lot bigger than him.”

Blink made a bitter sound that wasn’t quite a laugh. “You ain’t never seen him.”

“Yeah. But I imagine him really small. The kind of person who picks on little kids, ‘cause he’s little and mean and can’t find no one else to pick on.”

Blink took a deep breath, then let it out. He reached out for Mush’s hand, and Mush gave it to him.


End file.
